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State of the Climate in Asia 2023
The WMO State of the Climate in Asia 2023 is the fourth edition of climate reports published annually for this region and has involved National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) WMO Regional Climate Centres (RCCs) and several research institutions as well as United Nations agencies international and regional organizations. The report provides the status of key climate indicators and latest data and information on impacts risks and policy from United Nations agencies. It addresses specific physical science socio-economic and policy aspects that are relevant to Asia and responds to Members needs in the fields of climate monitoring climate change and climate services.
European State of the Climate 2023
Summary
In 2023 the impacts of climate change continued to be seen across Europe with millions of people impacted by extreme weather events making the development of mitigation and adaptation measurements a priority. To achieve this understanding climate trends is vital. The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) together with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) today release the 2023 European State of the Climate report (ESOTC 2023). The report provides descriptions and analysis of climate conditions and variations from across the Earth system key events and their impacts and a discussion of climate policy and action with a focus on human health. The ESOTC also includes updates on the long-term evolution of key Climate Indicators.
The seaweed value chain through a gender lens: A gender inclusive value chain?
The role of women is key to achieving sustainable growth in the seaweed sector. The food security-gender nexus in the seaweed industry is critical considering that women constitute a disproportionately large percentage of the people engaged in the informal lowest paid least stable and least skilled segments of the workforce. In aquaculture women comprise 28 per cent of the workforce within the primary sector; within fisheries this figure is 18 per cent. Spanning both the pre- and post-harvest stages of the value chain their participation reaches an estimated 50 per cent (FAO 2022). Beyond their pivotal role in coastal rural economies women play a substantial part in ensuring household food security and nutritional wellbeing all the while managing domestic and caregiving responsibilities.
An Ocean of Opportunities: The Potential of Seaweed to Advance Food, Environmental and Gender Dimensions of the SDGs
This study aims to enhance our comprehension of the seaweed sector as a tripartite vector for economic growth environmental sustainability and women’s economic empowerment. It builds upon the outcomes of the 4th United Nations Oceans Forum (UNOF) the 2023 Trade and Environment Review (TER) and expert interviews to present the interlinkages of the seaweed sector with food and nutrition environmental and climate goals. The study adopts a gender lens paying attention to women’s participation throughout the seaweed value chain. Seaweed’s growing popularity offers potential to increase economic income food security preserve marine biodiversity and empower women along the value chains. Seaweed farming and processing demonstrate how development climate and nature can work together to generate value that uplifts coastal communities including women and Indigenous Peoples. Seaweed has multiple uses including for food nutraceuticals cosmetics pharmaceuticals aquatic animal or livestock feed biofertilizer textiles and biofuels. It can also be used for producing fully biodegradable and compostable biomass for non-plastics substitute and plastic alternatives.
Introduction
Within a sustainable ocean economy seaweed collection culture processing and trade is one of the sectors with the most opportunities to achieve sustainable growth by 2030 (UNCTAD 2023a). Seaweed farming culture is closely linked to food security income livelihoods and traditional knowledge of rural coastal communities particularly for women and Indigenous Peoples. The value of the seaweed sector remains mostly underappreciated and untapped while it shows clear growth potential beyond its current markets (World Bank 2023a).
Executive summary
This study aims to enhance our comprehension of the seaweed sector as a tripartite vector for economic growth environmental sustainability and women’s economic empowerment. It builds upon the outcomes of the 4th United Nations Oceans Forum (UNOF) the 2023 Trade and Environment Review (TER) and expert interviews to present the interlinkages of the seaweed sector (production market trade) with food and nutrition environmental and climate goals. The study adopts a gender lens paying attention to women’s participation throughout the seaweed value chain.
What is seaweed and why does it represent a new sustainable ocean economic opportunity?
Seaweed as a marine macroalgae can be classified into three taxonomic groups: brown red and green. Their contributions to sustainability range from generating sustainable livelihoods for small-scale farmers and harvesters to potentially playing an important role in mitigating climate change. Several case studies have shown how the seaweed sector has been a key driver of women’s empowerment in ocean communities (World Bank 2023a). Seaweed production requires less resources and production inputs and its export faces lower barriers to market entry than traditional fisheries. However seaweed is often amalgamated with fisheries and other aquaculture activities thus not yet fully recognized as a distinct sector. That can lead to underestimating its importance for economic development especially for women.
Acknowledgements
This publication was produced and coordinated by the Division on International Trade and Commodities of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) based on a study of the UNCTAD Oceans Economy and Fisheries Programme. A study team was led by David Vivas Eugui with work carried out under the overall guidance of Chantal Line Carpentier.
Conclusions
This section presents various lines of action to respond to the challenges and to seize the opportunities identified in this study for developing a gender inclusive seaweed sector that advances many of the SDGs. It also offers a pathway to remove the barriers to scaling up seaweed production.
Executive summary
This report was prepared by United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat) and the UNESCO Chair on Urban Resilience at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU.Resilience). It offers a global analysis of the urban content of 193 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) before the 19th of June 2022.
Urban Climate Action: The Urban Content of the NDCs - Global Review 2022
This report was prepared by United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat) and the UNESCO Chair on Urban Resilience at the University of Southern Denmark. It offers a global analysis of the urban content of 193 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) before the 19th of June 2022. For this report more than 200 indicators were used to analyse external data (e.g. Human Development Index and income categorisation) and data within the NDCs including climate mitigation and adaptation challenges and responses as well as specific sectors.
Urban content of NDCs at the global level
For this review 193 NDCs were analysed (see Annex 2) including the latest version of all updated NDCs submitted before 19th June 2022 which are publicly available in the UNFCCC online depository.
Introduction
This report was prepared by United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat) and the UNESCO Chair on Urban Resilience at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU.Resilience). It offers a global analysis of the urban content of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) before the 19th of June 2022.